. >> reporter: we're here in downtown baltimore. we have been inside this state office building listening to people in suits, mostly men, talk to other people in suits about very complex issues. well, rather than making you go in and listening to all that i'll just tell you what it boils down to. it's a question of how much extra are you willing to pay? so we'll ask people. how much extra would you be willing to pay to make sure the outage isn't so long? >> i don't think i should have to pay anything. i pay taxes. >> i'd pay 10, sure. >> reporter: what about you? >> yeah, 10. >> a couple dollars maybe, but not a whole lot. >> reporter: how much more would you be willing to pay a month to make sure you weren't without power so long? >> hell, i'm already paying too much as it is, so any amount that i say will be too much. >> something reasonable like 15 bucks. >> reporter: so let's say everyone agreed to pay $10 a month over five years. well, according to these state papers, pepco has a half million customers in maryland and gbe 1.2 m